Alexander S Arredondo
Profile
Age: 20
From: Randolph, Mass.
Assigned to Battalion Landing Team 1/4, 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable), I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.
Incident: Marine Lance Cpl. Alexander S. Arredondo was killed Aug. 25 by enemy action in Najaf, Iraq.
Died: August 25, 2004
Alexander Arredondo always saw the glass half-full. He joined the Marines out of a sense of duty, and when others complained about their training, he just smiled and kept working. When Iraqi children threw rocks at American troops, Arredondo tried to change their attitudes. "That's one thing I will say I gave to him: optimism, which is a good thing to have in this life," said his mother, Victoria Foley. Arredondo, 20, of Randolph, Mass., died Aug. 25 in a hostile attack in Najaf, Iraq. He was based at Camp Pendleton, Calif. His father was so upset upon learning of the death that he climbed into a Marine Corps van and set fire to the vehicle, seriously burning himself. "This is his scream that his child is dead. The war needs to stop," said Melida...